Is Phonewatch worth it?

Hi,

I've raised this question before, but think it's appropriate to raise it again, now....

Why not get a dog, rather than an alarm system?

They are the best home security system, include an element of additional protection, should an intruder entire your home, with the added befit of companionship.

If you must get an alarm system, then the only reason to really consider Phonewatch, is if you live in an area what doesn't have a decent mobile phone signal (given phonewatch can run on traditional copper phone wires).

We have Phonewatch, albeit we've had them for about 15 years, so we're on an old Phonewatch system, not their current kit). It's a bit primitive, but is a monitored service. They currently charge circa €39pm, but we've often negotiated that down to circa €30pm.

A word of warning - I recently sold my house and therefore cancelled my account with Phonewatch after 20years of continuous custom. I can’t transfer the service to the new property as the apartment building already has an established common service in place. I assumed I'd need to give a month's notice, but instead received a bill from Phonewatch for a further 8 months even though I can't use their service and they confirmed that they also plan to charge the new owner for the same monitoring service. They have not referred this bill to a debt collection agency.
This seems wholly unreasonable, so I would warn anyone from dealing with them.

Debatejunkie said:

A word of warning - I recently sold my house and therefore cancelled my account with Phonewatch after 20years of continuous custom. I can’t transfer the service to the new property as the apartment building already has an established common service in place. I assumed I'd need to give a month's notice, but instead received a bill from Phonewatch for a further 8 months even though I can't use their service and they confirmed that they also plan to charge the new owner for the same monitoring service. They have not referred this bill to a debt collection agency.
This seems wholly unreasonable, so I would warn anyone from dealing with them.

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Yes, this has always been one of their unsavoury terms. You "agree" an annual renewing contract. Once you are 14 days into it there is no returning.

For this unfair term alone I have point blank refused to consider it

peemac said:

Yes, this has always been one of their unsavoury terms. You "agree" an annual renewing contract. Once you are 14 days into it there is no returning.

For this unfair term alone I have point blank refused to consider it

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Interestingly, when I asked for a copy of the contract, this is what I got. I’ve been using their service for 18 years.



Our contract sign up is either over the phone or by our door-to-door sales agents. We email an order confirmation directly, or via email when with our inhouse sales team. The installation of the alarm confirms agreement as if we did not allow install, we would not be providing the service. The service shall begin upon installation. The contract shall have an initial service period of 12 months. At the end of the initial service period, the contract will be renewed automatically for a further 12-month period. If the Customer does not want the contract to be automatically renewed, it must inform the Company no later than 30 days prior to the expiry of the 12-month period.

Re post by @Debatejunkie
Do you know how they can charge the new owner without having a conract in place with them? The fact they are charging you at a different address would imply to me the contract is linked to you, not the actual address or location of the service
I was always told to avoid Phonewatch.

RE monitoring; IMO a thief will be in and out before any guards can respond unless they're literally on the road. The more deterrents you have the better, ie Cameras at doors, PIR external lighting, Timers for internal lighting, A DOG, etc. I installed a Visonic Powermax (wireless) about 15yrs ago and still works perfectly, I maintain it myself which is normally simply replacing batteries now & then.

Debatejunkie said:

A word of warning - I recently sold my house and therefore cancelled my account with Phonewatch after 20years of continuous custom. I can’t transfer the service to the new property as the apartment building already has an established common service in place. I assumed I'd need to give a month's notice, but instead received a bill from Phonewatch for a further 8 months even though I can't use their service and they confirmed that they also plan to charge the new owner for the same monitoring service. They have not referred this bill to a debt collection agency.
This seems wholly unreasonable, so I would warn anyone from dealing with them.

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This is contrary to the Consumer Rights Act brought in last November. You should be able to get that money back

Luternau said:

Do you know how they can charge the new owner without having a conract in place with them?

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It's not that they automatically charge the new owners, it's only if the new owners are foolish and decide to go with PhoneWatch. They will pay for for monitoring at that address as you'd expect and in the meantime the original owner will still be paying until their 12 month contract period is up.

bren1916 said:

RE monitoring; IMO a thief will be in and out before any guards can respond unless they're literally on the road.

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Worse than that, PhoneWatch systems are often very light on sensors, so any pros at the thieving game will have a good idea how to enter without triggering the system.

DeeKie said:

This is contrary to the Consumer Rights Act brought in last November. You should be able to get that money back

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Do you know what section? I see the requirement for proportionate refund in the event of cancellation where the provider is unable to deliver the service, and I haven't read it all yet, but I'm not seeing conditions that would apply here?

Stay well clear of Phonewatch. Misleading practices. We were loyal customers for over 7 years and decided to close our account to sign up with a much cheaper and better company. We rang them to notify them of closing our account and gave them one months notice as per our signing up terms. They took great delight in telling us that we would be invoiced for one years alarm monitoring as contracts had since changed. We had not signed up to any new contracts nor did we enter rolling yearly contracts. We emailed them to explain the situation and they’ve since just sent legal emails and debt collector threats demanding that we should pay the full years invoice. Also bear in mind our new alarm installer disabled and removed their system and it took their ‘live monitoring’ centre over two hours to phone us to say there was an issue with the intruder alarm. Dreadful service, approach and company. Absolutely do not sign up to them and if you’re with them you should cancel and absolutely do not pay any fees past one months notice. There are so many better companies out there with far cheaper setup and monthly monitoring fees, that actually offer ‘live’ monitoring to protect your home or business.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Much cheaper, better quality companies out there. Dreadful company with zero customer approach. We were loyal customers for over 7 years. We decided to cancel our alarm system as there were better alarm providers out there that offer much cheaper monthly monitoring. We rang them to cancel and give them one months notice as per our signing up terms 7 years ago. We were laughed down the phone and told that we would be paying all remaining fees for the next year as they now operate on rolling contracts. We explained that we we never signed up to a new contract or rolling contract and they were not the terms we signed up for. Anyway we emailed them to explain and they never bothered to reply. They have since just sent invoices for nearly €500 and legal orientated emails and passed our details onto a debt collector. Disgraceful behaviour. Also FYI our new alarm installer disconnected their system and PhoneWatch only called us 2 hours after this to ask was there a problem with the alarm. That’s some service your paying for ‘live monitoring’ and personal safety. AVOID at all costs!

JimmyB99 said:

Thanks Leo

Reading between the lines, I get the impression that you're not their fan numero uno?

How much per month are they?!

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Monthly fee is €68 at moment. Was tolls on Friday it was going to just over €70 shortly.we phoned us about our system and came to see it Thursday and engineer told us they were getting alerts from system, the reason being it’s attached to home phone and the lines had been changed to Fiber recently, so we need to have to whole new system. Our system is about 20 years installed, and last time we had it serviced just before Covid was told it was their best system

I have a recurring note in calendar to call them prior to renewal. I tell them im leaving which I would if they charged me full whack. Being paying 25eur pm for a long time. I need a monitored alarm as keep guns in safe in house.